


Dinner

by nerdqueenenterprise



Series: 100 Ways To Say 'I Love You' [3]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Flirting, M/M, Marriage Anniversary Date, Very Loving Sass, also listen take it from a Medical Person: we are indeed that weird, hugh is a theatre gay hashtag confirmed, the rating is for like.... alluded/mentioned nsfw stuff but nothing descriptive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 10:40:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15117662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdqueenenterprise/pseuds/nerdqueenenterprise
Summary: It's Paul's and Hugh's fifth marriage anniversary, and Paul took Hugh out for dinner.





	Dinner

Paul sucks the chocolate mousse off his spoon and shoots Hugh a look that isn’t entirely meant to be seductive, but the angle lends itself well. Hugh is partially hidden behind his wine glass, but he’s smirking at Paul.

“Enjoying your dessert, sweetling?”

“I am enjoying my _pre_ -dessert. Dessert itself will be… later.”

He winks at Hugh.

“Oh, is that so?”

“It is.”

Hugh takes another sip of wine and sets his glass down, reaching over to knot his fingers together with Paul’s.

“It’s a good thing we didn’t drive here, because I’ll be too drunk to drive soon.” He lifts their hands and presses a kiss to Paul’s knuckles.

“Is that a not so secret jab at me losing my license?”

“You say that like you misplaced it. And by the way - you lost it a day before you were supposed to pick me up from the airport for our wedding anniversary, my love.”

“And you say that like it’s my fault _someone_ had to attend an impromptu conference four days before our wedding anniversary. Not to mention that that same someone still hasn’t gotten his license and is on his billionth attempt even though he’s _thirty-two_ because allegedly he’s ’too gay to drive.’”

Paul takes another spoonful, watching Hugh sip his wine and grin at himself.

“You said you saw Bert at the conference? How’s he doing?”

Hugh chuckles. “Oh man. Yeah, I saw him, we talked for about an hour. Um, he and Caitlyn are expecting. Again. She’s on a kale diet - again - in hopes that their baby will… I don’t know. At that point I had stopped to try and make sense of it. It was hilarious, and I would’ve liked to tell him about birth control. But I also saw Maddy again.”

“Maddy! How is she!”

“She and her girlfriend are expecting too… a delivery of succulents. They’ve always been sensible, so I’m not that surprised. Oh, and you should’ve seen the cake they had there. Wait, let me show you a pic.”

“They made cake in the form of a- a human heart? _Wow_ , that’s amazing!”

“It had some slightly liquid oozy cherry stuff inside, it was great. I gotta find the official instagram of the bakery, because I know they filmed it when it was cut.”

“You medicine people really aren’t normal.”

“You say that without knowing the kinds of conversations Phil and I have during our morning runs, love. That’s not even anywhere near ’not normal’. You should see the faces of the people we pass.”

“Thanks, I think _I_ will pass.” Paul puts the spoon down and pushes his empty plate away. “Hmm, I was thinking, how jetlagged are you? Because it’s only seven, and I’m awake enough to stay up for a while, and the Young Theatre is doing their ’Surprise Me’ plays again over on Chamberlain’s.”

“They are? Are you saying you’d go with me?”

“I am.”

“I’d absolutely love to.”

Paul laughs. “Yeah, I thought so. I’d been keeping a bit of an eye out, whether they’d do that again, and… well, they started on Wednesday, and since we were eating here anyways I thought I’d keep it in mind and ask you. Are you going to be warm enough when we head over? I’ve found the nights to be a little chilly recently.”

“Oh, I’ll be fine, don’t worry! Aah, I didn’t expect this! I’m so happy, Paul, thank you so much.”

Paul tugs their joined hand over to himself and it’s his turn to kiss Hugh’s knuckles.

“I’m glad. Shall we get the check and get going?”

Hugh nods, knocking back the last sip of his wine as Paul signals their waiter.

He pays, and then helps Hugh into his jacket, making sure to smooth all creases out and button it up for him. 

Hugh smiles to himself.

“There you go, Hugh.”

“Thank you for helping me put on my jacket. I wouldn’t have managed without you.”

Paul snorts and tugs his own on quicker than Hugh can react. 

“Just let me do a nice thing for my husband every now and then again.” Paul holds out his hand for Hugh to take and makes sure to open the door for him. “Five years, my dear doctor.”

The summer air is indeed chillier than it has any right to be, and Hugh snuggles into Paul’s side immediately.

“Five years. God, I’m a lucky guy. Five years more of calling you my husband than I’d been able to, well, you know.”

“Let’s not dwell on that. We’re both here, we’re both alive, all that happened back then happened, but it’s over now. I love you. Let’s focus on that.”

“I love you too.”

 

 

 

 

There’s already quite the queue for the Young Theatre’s open air area, so they join it.

“See the woman over there?” Hugh whispers, mouth close enough to Paul’s ear to give him very pleasant tickles. “I bet you… hmm… three days of vacuum duty that she’s going to fall over with those heels.”

“Don’t judge her. You wouldn’t fare half as well as she’s already doing.”

“Aw, love. I really have to find those videos of me in that theatre group. I killed it as Angel, and I wore very high heels because the guy playing Collins was super tall and kissing him would’ve been awkward otherwise.”

“Ohh. Hugh?”

“Yeah?”

“So on the one hand - hot guy alert at 10 o’clock, and once you’re done staring at him, what do you think about going to Pride in drag, next year?”

Hugh doesn’t respond.

“Hugh?”

“Sorry. Um. No offence; yeah, he’s cute, but he kisses like he wants to impregnate his poor girlfriend’s stomach with his tongue. _Ew_.”

Paul chokes on his surprised laugh. “What?!”

“They’re gone now, but _ew_! Also, I don’t do straight guys. Not that they’re usually willing, but having to listen to the whole ’but no homo, right?’ spiel afterwards is _so_ exhausting.”

“How many straight guys did you bang in uni?”

“Most of the lighting and tech crew in the theatre group? They were all there because they weren’t gay enough to actually act, because that’s the only way you can be an actor if you’re a guy, obviously, but still wanted in on the whole theatre world to find girls because all the girls who are in theatre must be lonely, because all male actors are gay.”

“Except the girls are all gay too, or not interested in that brand of guy.” Paul grins. “Wow, Hugh. Wow. It’s a wonder they didn’t kick you off for that.”

Hugh straightens against Paul’s side, pulling a very innocent face.

“Oh, absolutely.”

“Hugh?”

“Yes?”

“What happened?”

“Um, so, _maybe_ some people got a little upset when they walked in on me sucking five different dicks at the same time in one of the changing rooms. And maybe that was also the director. And maybe, um, I offered to resolve the issue by sucking him too.”

“You did NOT! Hugh!”

Hugh laughs. “Paul! My love! Look - I had gotten away from home, finally, was living in a different city, for the first time I was free to shove my tongue down every consenting gender’s throat, put my face onto every consenting gender’s genitals… I was going to have fun, Paul.”

“So… did you… the director?”

“No. I was fired immediately after we’d completed that run. But, um, the great thing about knowing all these guys who were still hoping to get some on occasion, um, well, tech guys, don’t know how, especially since they have a ton of equipment to pay for all the time, but a lot of them aren’t actually doing that badly, even though they’re in uni.”

Paul turns to stare at him properly.

“So, um, you know, we kept in contact, and as long as they didn’t warble on about how heterosexual it all is, um, yeah, I’d get a lot of free pizza and other nice stuff.”

Paul drops Hugh’s hand to cover his face, turning away and walking a few steps while he tries to muffle his laughter.

“You - you - _Hugh_! That is-” He lowers his voice to a loud whisper. “That is _not_ how you tell your husband that you had a bunch of sugar daddies in - in uni?! What the _fuck,_ Hugh!”

“Are you upset with the number, or…?”

“No! No, I’m not -” Paul steps closer again, holding Hugh’s face, baring his teeth because he’s trying so hard to keep his laughter in. “I’m not upset at all, Hugh, I just - god! You can’t - okay, look. We’re in the queue for a theatre play. We’re in public. And you - you tell _me_ , your husband of five years, on our anniversary nonetheless, that you - that you -”

“Don’t you see? I had to suck those guy’s dicks! They were straight, I’m gay, it’s the gay agenda!” Hugh grins back with equally much fervour. “Are you jealous?”

“That’s five dicks at once! Also - maybe we should, um, have that discussion at home. But let me just say… I know what I’ll be thinking about if I ever get to see those videos of you as Angel.”

“Fair. But weren’t you in The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Wait - I’m pretty sure you said you were Frank N. Further. Were you?”

“I was, yeah, but that was in high school.” Paul tries to shove Hugh away. “God!”

Hugh laughs, holding Paul close no matter how much he squirms. He rubs his stubble along the side of Paul’s face until he can press his lips against Paul’s ear.

“Were _you_ sucking everyone’s dicks in the dressing room?”

Paul groans.

“Well, first of all, there were a lot more cis girls, and secondly, I had a girlfriend at the time and was a little scared of sucking dick,” he whispers back at Hugh.

“Why would you be scared of dick?”

“That’s a conversation for home. Let’sssss… let’s switch the topic.”

Hugh throws his head back and laughs, letting go of Paul.

“Well, since the love of my life doth demand it - tell me about the response to your video on the mini roses instead.”

Paul links their hands back together and smiles.

“I got a lot of people asking whether they’re for you, and whether I’ll make you a bouquet out of them, and whether they’ll finally see your face when I give it to you.”

“Are they for me?”

Paul shoots him a wink.

The couple in front of them pays for their tickets and Paul steps up to the makeshift booth.

“Two adults, please.”

“That’s eight dollars, sir.”

“Hey, let me -”

Paul nudges Hugh’s hands out of the way.

“No, no, no, let me -”

“Paul, you already paid for dinner! Let me pay for the theatre at least!”

“No, no, it’s my treat. Keep the change, it’s for a good cause, ” he turns to the box office attendant and tugs Hugh along before he can complain any more.

 

 

 

 

They find a nice place to sit, made even better by them having to snuggle together to fit, and the play begins shortly afterwards. It turns out to be something so obscure that the actors have more problems with it than usually, resulting in uproarious laughter. The ’Surprise Me’ shows started a few years ago to raise money for a natural catastrophe somewhere. The idea is simple: the actors will perform a play they’ve never done before, usually getting their lines only an hour or so before the play starts, resulting in lots of fucking up and general mayhem. It’s theatre for when you’re not in the mood for something too heavy or too fancy, and it’s been an absolute success.

Hugh and Paul are both still laughing on the way home, recounting some of their favorite funny moments. 

They have to quiet down a little once they let themselves into the house - Jus and Amelia are probably already asleep, seeing how it’s nearing midnight, but they still keep bumping into each other, nudging shoulders and fingers and bodies together, quick, secret kisses while they get ready for bed. They slam the bedroom door closed by accident, hiding laughter in each other’s skin, and then Hugh’s shirt finds itself removed from his body.

“Oh, is that how it’s going to be?” Hugh asks, already tugging at Paul’s shirt too, relishing in the coy smile on his husband’s face.

“I mean… it’s how I’d like for it to be.”

Hugh certainly doesn’t have any problems with that, and even though they try to keep a little quiet, Jus is going to give them pointed looks over breakfast, but it’s not their fault that they love each other’s touch this much.

“We should probably shower,” Hugh whispers afterwards, with Paul still on top of him, face pressed into his chest.

“We have wet wipes somewhere.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“We already have each other’s cooties. What’s the worst that could happen? Happy anniversary, my love.”

**Author's Note:**

> so did i mention this is the last exclusively happy one for a while? bc YEAH some stuff accidentally turned sad (not my fault tho)  
> ANYWAYS i hope you enjoyed this, and please leave me a comment if you did!  
> i'm also over on [tumblr](http://www.shroom-boi.tumblr.com)! come say hi!
> 
> EDIT: sorry i lied the next one will still be cute! even tho paul is suffering a little,,,,,


End file.
